In the notation of fingering, particularly the most personally characteristic fingering,
Chopin was not sparing. Pianists owe him thanks for his great innovations in fingering,
which because of their effectiveness soon became established, through authorities such as
Kalkbrenner were initially truly horrified by them. Chopin unhesitatingly employed the
thumb on the black keys; he crossed it even under the fifth finger (admittedly with a
decided bending-in of the wrist) when this could facilitate the performance or lend it
more serenity or evenness. He often took two successive notes with one and the same
finger (and not only in the transition from a black key to a white one), without the
slightest break in the tonal flow becoming noticeable. He frequently crossed the longer
fingers over each other, without the help of the thumb (see Etude no. 2 from op. 10). And
not only in passages where it was made absolutely necessary by the thumb’s holding a
key. The fingering of chromatic thirds based on this principle (as he indicates it in Etude
no. 5 from op. 25) offers, to a much greater degree than the then-usual method, the
possibility of the most beautiful legato in the fastest tempo with an altogether calm hand.
As for shading, he adhered strictly to a genuinely gradual crescendo and decrescendo.
On declamation and on performance in general, he gave his pupils invaluable and
meaningful advice and hints, but certainly exerted a far stronger influence by repeatedly
playing for his students not only individual passages but entire works, and with a
conscientiousness and enthusiasm that he rarely displayed in the concert hall. Often the
entire lesson would pass without the student’s having played more than a few measures,
while Chopin, interrupting and correcting him on the Pleyel upright (the student always
played on an outstanding concert piano, and was required to practice only on the finest
instruments), offered the warm, living ideal of the highest beauty for his admiration and
emulation. One could say without exaggeration that only his students knew Chopin the
pianist in his full, quite unattainable greatness.
Chopin most insistently recommended ensemble playing, the cultivation of the best
chamber music – but only in the company of highly accomplished musicians. Whoever
could not find such opportunities was urged to seek a substitute in four-hand playing.
Just as insistently he advised his pupils to undertake thorough theoretical studies as early
as possible, and most of them were grateful for his kind intercession when his friend
Henri Reber (later professor at the Paris Conservatory), whom he respected highly both
as a theorist and as a composer, agreed to instruct therm. In every situation the great
heart of the master was open to his students. A sympathetic and fatherly friend, he
inspired them to incessant efforts, rejoiced genuinely in every new accomplishment, and
always had an encouraging word for the wavering and the fainthearted.’
Source: Karol Mikuli’s foreword to his edition of Chopin’s piano works published by F.
Kistner in 1879.
MINOR SCALE
Each major scale has a relative minor scale which starts a minor third (four semitones
counting both notes) down from the major scale. Each minor scale has the same key